Recently, a plant resource such as kenaf, growing easily and having a large quantity of carbon dioxide absorption, has been noted from the aspect of reduction in carbon-dioxide emissions, fixation of carbon dioxide and the like. Such plant-derived resources have been expected to be a material for a molded article comprising a composite material with resin, a pulp and the like. For example, kenaf has an outer layer part referred to as a bast and a core material part referred to as a core or the like. Since the bast has tough fibers, the bast is of high utility value and usages thereof have been developed. On the other hand, the core has short fibers compared to the bast. Further the core has low specific gravity and is bulky compared to the bast. In the present circumstances, it is difficult to handle the core and to find utility values thereof, and hence, the core is discarded in many cases. Moreover, with respect to the kenaf, the core is on the order of 60% by volume based on the total volume of a stem of the kenaf whereas the bast accounts for 40% by volume, thus giving rise to a drawback that 60% by volume of the total volume of the kenaf is discarded. Now therefore, effective usages of not only the kenaf but also low-specific-gravity and bulky materials out of the various plant resources have been required. As a technique utilizing the plant resource by kneading together with resin, the following Patent Documents 1 and 2 which disclose a material obtained by kneading a plant-derived material with thermoplastic resin, a molded article making use of the material, and a method for production of the molded article and the like are known.
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A 2000-127280
[Patent Document 2]
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A 2000-219812